St Lucia – West Indies

Our History

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From Pirates to Pilates

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Every family has a chequered history, a story of highs and lows, heroes and villains, good times and bad times; ours is no different. However our family does have quite a history of being entrepreneurial, of being at the right place at the right time! From coal to sugar, rum to bananas and then hotels, we have tried our hand at many things over the generations. This booklet is just a brief look into that history, a history that leads up to the present day. Today we own and run two of the finest resorts in the Caribbean and we thought that you might like to hear our story. I hope that you enjoy it.

Andrew Barnard 22/200

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precious

Time is so , smart couples steal it

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The Pilgrim Fathers There are not many families that can trace their families back to the landing of The Mayflower in the Americas in the 17th century, but our ancestors left Plymouth, England on September 6th 1620 to start a new life in America. They settled in Carolina and indeed today we still have family connections with the USA. Slowly the family moved down into the Caribbean and by the early 1800’s they had arrived in St. Lucia as teachers.

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Black gold In the 19th Century coal was the biggest industry in St Lucia and swiftly the Barnards became one of the three biggest family businesses exporting coal out of the naturally deep harbour at Castries.

If you go to the island’s museum today you can see tokens minted by the family to hand out to labourers when they had worked loading coal onto boats in the harbour; they then handed these in for cash.

These Barnard and Company coins ended up being used as currency around the island. The family thrived and began to invest into sugar plantations both here in St Lucia but also in St Vincent. A new chapter in our history began.

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Denis, sugar & rum My grandfather, Denis Barnard, was the founding father of our hotel business. An orphan as a result of Spanish Influenza, at the tender age of 6, he was educated at agricultural college in Trinidad and returned to reinvigorate the family sugar estates. He was an innovator, a shrewd businessman and a hard worker and this combination turned the family business into an empire! By 1932, as well as the sugar plantations, he had founded the distillery at Dennery. Today this distillery produces some of the finest rums in the world such as Bounty Rum, Chairman’s Reserve and the renowned Admiral Rodney. We always raise a glass to Denis when we enjoy a glass of this great rum.

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A home becomes a business

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Then in the 1950’s, Denis, urged on by his wife Marguerite, bought a plot of land to build a small getaway. Sitting on Vigie beach, the new house, Malabar, nestled amongst the palm trees and looked gracefully down onto the Caribbean Sea.

The house he built had a large tiled bar that opened up onto the beach. Denis was quite a character and his fondness for company meant that he invited many of the tourists walking on the beach in for lunch or dinner, served by Lionel his butler. Imagine their surprise when they asked for the bill only to be told that they were actually in someone’s private house!

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Rendezvous was born

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The 1960’s saw a surge of tourism in St Lucia and Denis soon saw an opportunity. He built a series of guest cottages on the beach next to the main house that eventually became the main guest rooms when it turned into a hotel.

The crew of the Royal Yacht Britannia were so impressed with the toasted coconut desert that they were served they took the recipe back on board. We never heard whether the Queen liked it!

There have been many famous guests wandering in and out of his house and the hotel over the years such as Led Zeppelin and 10cc.

The beautiful king-size swimming pool, refreshment bar and shaded umbrella tables for breakfast, lunch or snacks, make every day a fun and sun day for our guests.

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Give us your body for a we e k and we’ll give you b ack your mind

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A second generation

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Spotting the opportunity to harness the new tourism industry, Denis’s son Craig (the President of the hotel group today) set out to learn the business and attended L’Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland. Having learned the trade, Craig then returned to St Lucia and turned Rendezvous into one of the Caribbean’s most renowned resorts.

Under Craig’s management the business grew and by the 1980’s he opened The BodyHoliday at LeSPORT, now recognised as one of the leading health and wellbeing resorts in the world.

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Jane Fonda and leg warmers The ‘80’s became synonymous with the birth of Jane Fonda’s workout regimes and a whole new industry was born. This craze was sweeping the world and riding high on the crest was Craig who spotted an opportunity to create a holiday experience that harnessed this. The BodyHoliday was designed and created to maximise the desire of a generation to keep fit and stay young. At the tip of the island on the Cap Estate, a stunning spa was born with leading edge therapies and fitness classes to make the body beautiful. On top of this was a world-class resort that boasted a stunning hotel, renowned restaurants and all set in a stunning location.

The BodyHoliday today Craig and the rest of the family have never rested on their laurels and The BodyHoliday continues to go from strength to strength, winning awards all over the world for its uncompromising attention to detail and commitment to quality. The wellness centre is still one of the best centres for therapies and treatments in the world and we now offer almost any type of exercise and sport from archery to Zumba.

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A proud tradition

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The Barnard family history has been quite a journey from England to the USA, Jamaica and St Lucia. We have been coal exporters, teachers, sugar and banana farmers, rum distillers and hoteliers. Rendezvous and The BodyHoliday have been shaped by us, our history, the history of the island and our many and varied guests. I think that Denis would be proud of what we have achieved over the years and I think that his spirit lives on in the resorts. We raise a glass to him and his spirit.

Andrew Barnard

Malabar Beach, P.O. Box 190, Castries, St Lucia, West Indies 1 800 544 2883 (US) 0845 217 7847 (UK) www.theromanticholiday.com

Cariblue Beach, Castries, Saint Lucia, West Indies 1 800 544 2883 (US) 0845 217 7845 (UK) www.thebodyholiday.com